Abstract

Distinctive sound environments (soundscapes) have been suggested to have beneficial, hurtful, or exhibit no effect across human cognition outcomes. Previous research on natural soundscapes suggests numerous cognitive benefits on measures such as mood, creativity, and memory recall. The emergence of lo-fi music in research on cognition has garnered attention as cognitive benefits of lo-fi music listening on mood, sustained attention, and academic performance have been suggested, warranting further study. This study investigated the impact of natural and non-lyrical lo-fi soundscapes on positive and negative affect, creativity, and memory recall against a silent control condition. It was hypothesized that in the experimental conditions, (nature and lo-fi soundscapes) positive affect would be significantly different from the pretest, and negative affect would be significantly decreased from the pretest measure after comparison to the control condition. Furthermore, it was hypothesized that scores of creativity would be significantly different in the natural soundscape condition. It was also hypothesized that memory recall performance would be significantly increased in the nature and lo-fi soundscape conditions when compared to the control condition. 30 College of Wooster undergraduate students were tasked with remembering a series of 15 words for free recall, providing alternative uses for an item, and were asked to report positive and negative emotions at the start and end of the study. Between subjects analyses of variance revealed no significant differences in emotional affect, performance for creativity, and memory recall after exposure to soundscapes. These findings may be attributed to the limited duration of exposure to the soundscapes and the small sample size of the study.

Advisor

Clayton, Susan

Department

Psychology

Publication Date

2025

Degree Granted

Bachelor of Arts

Document Type

Senior Independent Study Thesis

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